Manual tranmission weirdness

[kurt]

So my Pro5 has a little over 70k on it, but for about the past 5k miles the gearbox has been giving me some grief. When upshifting between gears 1-2, 2-3, and 3-4 the shifter seems to get hung up in neutral. It doesn't make it to the next gear or grind, it just stops like I've hit the gate. Usually, it goes into gear without making me declutch and do it again, but I've got to really pull/push on the lever to get it to go into gear. It's intermittant, but it's becoming a little more frequent. It's annoying.

I'll have some time and space to lift the car up next week and crawl around underneath. Anything I should look for? Bent shift linkage? Could it be an internal ($$$) problem?

I should mention the only mod I have is a kartboy bushing, but that's been on the car for almost 4 years.

Thanks in advance

 

[mountjonas]

how's the fluid level?

 

[kurt]

how's the fluid level?

Good question. I had the fluid replaced at 40k. It doesn't leak anything, but I'll try and sneak a peek at the fluid.

 

[altspace]

I heard others with the same issue, do a search.

 

[kurt]

I heard others with the same issue, do a search.

I did and found nothing similar. Care to point me in the right direction?

 

[MomoP5]

Mine is at 55k and I think it's starting to do the same thing as yours. I am going to buy a new organic clutch myself, but hopefully thats not what it is for you.

 

[Powells85]

Maybe the bolt at the bottom of the shifter that connects to the linkage is loose. Worth a look... good luck.

 

[kurt]

UPDATE:

I had the gearbox fluid changed last week and that seems to have cured the balking in the transmission. Nothing special was used, just 80w-90.

I didn't realize that gearbox oil could affect the shifting so much after just 35k miles.

 

[upsman]

Hmm I'm having trouble gettin into the back gears ( 2nd, 4th, and reverse). I too have the symptoms of it feeling like its hittin a wall and just not going in. No grinds or anything. Think I'll try changing the fluid too. My car has 51K on it btw.

 

[Blankman]

When upshifting between gears 1-2, 2-3, and 3-4 the shifter seems to get hung up in neutral.

I had an '03 p5 that had the same problem going into fifth gear. It hung up in neutral, and if I tried to force it, it felt like I was going to snap the linkage. turned out to be a bearing inside the tranny - $700 repair at the dealer but I didn't pay a dime. It happened while it was still under warranty.

 

[upsman]

Was it the throw-out bearing??

 

[Blankman]

can't remember which one mine was - only that it turned into shrapnel inside the transmission and I was lucky enough that it didn't cause any other damage.

 

[Oblithian]

My 2014 Mazda 6 was doing this. The posts are a little confusing, was it just the fluid?

 

[upsman]

Mine ended up being a bad diff gear. Shredded for some reason and I didn't drive the car hard. NEW transmission for me. I heard that the 99-00 Proteges had this problem. I'm not sure about your car/year.

 

[sonick]

I had similar shifting issues when hot, turned out that my brake fluid reservoir cap had cracked and so was not holding the pressure.

Got a new one from dealer and haven't had any shifting problems since.